Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Or How Local is your Favorite Local Game Store?

So, in the past few days I’ve learned that my FLGS, with a spectacular selection, pretty spacious gaming space, great community, friendly/helpful staff, a generous discount + rewards program, and good parking(underrated quality imo) is getting seized by the Feds. With no hyperbole, from what I read in the press briefing the majority owner was a deviant of the worst kind and The Man is coming for everything he had.

With that aside, this store was 10 minutes or less from my house. The next closest equivalent is 30ish minutes.

In my ripe old age of 43, I liked my routine with my now defunct FLGS . Swing by after work to pick up some paint or mini’s, or just peruse the selection for ideas, it never felt ‘out of the way”. But now 30+ minutes just feels daunting.

But in reality, its probably not that big a deal, and probably not that far of a commute compared to some of my fellow Americans that live in less dense areas, or areas where a particular game doesn’t have a viable following. I was probably just spoiled! Sometime this week I’m gonna swing by the closest store and see how I like it.

So what does everyone’s commute to their FLGS look like? When is it too far, and how does it affect your hobby/gaming enjoyment?

Since my relocation I have a Warhammer store that is 1 hour and 22 minutes away and another game store that's an hour and six minutes away, but the players at the closer spot takes the Friendly out of Friendly Local Game Store

I hear there's a really good place with tons of GW players, but it's way too far right now.

It’s a 50 minute one way drive for me. Or a 90 minute one way to the next closest. Weeknights are out since they are closed by the time I get there. I play 1-3 Saturday sessions per month usually.

The closest shop to me is 10 minutes away.
Sadly it's declined in quality (& thus popularity) under it's new owners. Still definitely a FLGS & an ok enough place to play, just completely unreliable in getting anything not MTG in.
I still attend their Boardgame evening & I'm in a Pathfinder game that's hosted there. A little bit of $ is still spent there.

The next shop, where I now play many games & spend the most of the hobby $ is 20 minutes away.
Wich isn't really that terrible. I used to drive that every day going to work. It's about how far I have to drive if I'm heading over to most friends places....
Excellent shop.

Fortunately in my area there are many FLGS and a few GW stores (but nobody goes there to play since they have no space, no bathroom and you can only play current GW games)

Because i live in a rather rural area no matter what store i go to it is a minimum 45minute to 1 hour drive to get to any of them. the one frequented since 2008 and the one our group recently moved to is a few miles apart so we always make a day of it. the positive community is such that some of the other regular players actually drive from farther away just to come to our store. We are also long time friends with the current owner of the FLGS and we want to support his business.

I’m in the middle of a bunch. Deadzone in the middle.

45m-1 hour north, there are 3 different stores.
30m south there are 2 (one the new local GW which is my current preferred FLGS)
45m-1 hour south, 3 more.

Every time I’ve moved lately a new store has opened up within walking distance of my old place. I’d do my town a favor, but I really don’t want to move again,

Approximately a 7 minute walk.

20 minutes by bicycle to the shop

40 minutes by bus to the gaming club (but I tend to hitch a car ride at least homewards, if not both ways)

It's 10-15 minutes drive to the gaming club I sometimes get to play at.
Otherwise, it is 20 mins to either GW store I am near.
Non-GW stores are mostly further, at 40 minutes or so, but another opened up 20 minutes away last year.

My FLGS is about 35 minutes from home.

I usually go from work, so its only about 15 minute drive then.

I game almost exclusively in my home now. However, over the years I've used several FLGS's here in the city. They were typically between 30 and 40 minutes away and usually located in neighborhoods closer to the home of another club member. Periodically though we would go out to the suburbs and game at "Games Plus" -which is probably the best wargame store in Illinois- and that was a full hour away when coming from the city at rush hour.

It's now been quite a few years since I gamed at a FLGS. I currently have an FLGS 15-20 minutes away and if I didn't have other options, I'd likely game there. However, I'm at a place in my life where running a twice-monthly gaming group in my basement is a better proposition as there's no transit, the terrain is much better, food and drinks are handy and cheap and there are regular opponents for the games I want to play.

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Approximately a 7 minute walk.

Wow. That's amazing.

I've gotten lucky that the current shop is just a couple miles away.

When I first moved to the area and started trying to grow the wargaming scene the closest FLGs was an Hour and a Half away by car.

Now, this town of 8K people has three stores selling wargaming and hobby related materials. I am about 10 minute drive from all of them.

I've got three or four between 30 and 45 minutes away from home, and several more within an hour's drive. The one I usually frequent is bang on 30 minutes away from home, but barely ten minutes from work.

Back when I lived in the middle of nowhere, it was over an hour's drive just to get to the town where the nearest FLGS was. And it didn't have a terribly impressive selection. The next nearest was well over TWO hours away.

So much happier to be back in St. Louis.

Well my local GW is a 5 minute drive away, with other GW's both being about 45-50 minute drive away. With a 4th a half hour train ride into the city.
Got two big gaming centres both with 40+ tables of varying size and terrain. One's not even 10 minutes away and the other is about 50 minutes to an hour depending on traffic.
However the store my Heresy group currently meets at is about an hour away. This venue is probably closest to being an actual FLGS in the traditional sense in that it's an actual store that has carries a wide array of wargaming, CCG, bit of popculture merch etc. but has some table up the back. Were as the two above are a converted warehouse and showroom respectively. They do carry wargaming stock, but are much more focused on being a gaming space rather then being a store.

My local gaming club that meets weekly on a tuesday is at a lawn bowls club and is about 10 minutes away.
There's actually another 2 local clubs that are geographically very close to each other about 20 minutes away from me, but they both meet on nights I'm unavailable, so I never get to either of them unfortunately.

2 minute drive from work on the way home for my once a week evening of painting at my FLGS as it and I are both in the middle of town.
10 minutes drive from my house.

A friend has just moved into a converted apartment above a storefront (he bought the whole building) 2 doors from the FLGS.
Lucky bugger...

5minute walk, but whenever I buy something there I just stop there while cycling back from work as it is the same direction. I rarely buy something there, though, only as an emergency. Never play there too, I never understood the culture of playing in a shop.

Cyel wrote:
5minute walk, but whenever I buy something there I just stop there while cycling back from work as it is the same direction. I rarely buy something there, though, only as an emergency. Never play there too, I never understood the culture of playing in a shop.

I think in the US there seems to be far less of a 'set up a club' culture and shops are far more important. But some of the US (especially historical) guys have incredible home set ups for friends to come play in.

I am definitely a "play at home with friends" guy, there's a reason to build all this terrain after all I just like the fact that I don't have to conform to the rules or opening hours of some other place and the comfort is hard to beat.

It isn't a closed group too. If I enjoy a game against a stranger at some tournament or talking to a person online about the game and find out they are local, there's a fair chance I'll ask them to visit me for a game and there's a chance they will become a regular.

The_Real_Chris wrote:

I think in the US there seems to be far less of a 'set up a club' culture and shops are far more important. But some of the US (especially historical) guys have incredible home set ups for friends to come play in.

The FLGS is definitely the final point for many local game shops.

Clubs exist, but often they're an extension of the "play at home" ability that is afforded by generally larger homes and -, in some places- the prevalence of useable basements.

Cyel wrote:.

It isn't a closed group too. If I enjoy a game against a stranger at some tournament or talking to a person online about the game and find out they are local, there's a fair chance I'll ask them to visit me for a game and there's a chance they will become a regular.

I agree. We're definitely not closed either, I'm always looking for new players online or at the conventions I run games at and we've acquired a few players this way.

The_Real_Chris wrote:

Cyel wrote:
5minute walk, but whenever I buy something there I just stop there while cycling back from work as it is the same direction. I rarely buy something there, though, only as an emergency. Never play there too, I never understood the culture of playing in a shop.

I think in the US there seems to be far less of a 'set up a club' culture and shops are far more important. But some of the US (especially historical) guys have incredible home set ups for friends to come play in.

Just wanted to affirm the above. While clubs do exist, the ones I am familar with are all centered around stores in my area. In my area there is almost an expectation that retail outlets provide gaming space and are often judged as being either superior or inferior to other LGS's based on the amount gaming space as well as the fact that if they have lots of gaming space it almost always follows that they have decent stock on hand and convenient hours. The GW stores in my area are all one man stores in small locations open only 5 days a week for 8 hours a day vs. 10 to 12 hours/7 day a week schedule that the independents operate.

For context I am in my 50's and live in the outer suburbs of one of the largest metro areas in the US by both population and land area, i.e. lots of people but fairly spread out compared to cities in the US northeast. It definitely would not be considered a bikeable or walkable city and there is no mass transit that I could take to any LGS or GW. According to GW's store finder there are 9 stores within 15 miles / 24 km of where I live, though drive time can vary significantly thus making an ostensibly closer store harder to get to due to traffic.

Closest LGS is 15 minutes - 6.5 miles/10.5 km, but my preferred store is 19 mins - 16.6 miles/26.7 km away via toll road or about 25-30 minutes if I avoid the toll road. My closest GW is 25 minutes - 21.9 miles/35.2 km away, again via tollway or 45 minutes if I avoid the toll road. None of the stores are really on my regular travel routes so most trips are planned in advance.

I only go maybe once a month as I no longer play pickup games and any new releases I am keen on that have a likelihood of selling out I just order online (from independents unless GW exclusive) since that is the most dependable way of getting what I want at the moment. Really I only go to a LGS if I have a prearranged game or session with friends or maybe if there is a paticular store event. I will of course buy stuff typically while in the store, but I do not got out of my way any longer to pick up what I want.

I play in my loft, where I have everything I need. There are a 3-4 stores/games clubs 1/2 hour away but work & life conspire to keep me well away from games sessions.

Cyel wrote:
I never understood the culture of playing in a shop.

I play games both at home & at the shop.

The "home" games are limited to actual friends.

Playing at the shop?
●I get to play a wide assortment of games with a wide assortment of people in a neutral environment.
Just because I'll play a game with you does NOT necessarily mean I want you in my house....
● Playing at the shop serves to advertise other not-40k-games. My friends & I play a great many other games besides 40k. Some are other GW offerings, alot are not. There's a huge difference in hearing/reading about game X & seeing stuff posted online VS seeing actual people playing it & having fun.
● The current shop also serves as a handy central meeting place.
I live 20 minutes away from the shop. A couple of my gaming friends are about 10 minutes away from me. Most of the others? While they are 15/20 minutes away from the shop? They are also 15/20+ minutes further away from me/each other.
So time wise it makes more sense to meet in the middle....

I consider myself truly blessed that I have three FLGS's within 10 miles of where I live. One of them I sometimes buy stuff at but rarely play there as they charge for table use and don't have great terrain selection (for 40k anyways). Another I don't visit that often because it's downtown and parking can be an issue sometimes (I live in a busy college town). The owner is friendly and it's set up as a gaming cafe, so they serve food and drinks there (including hard drinks for those who are so inclined). And while they also charge for table use, their terrain collection is far better than the first shop so I feel better about paying for a table there. In addition to all that, they are the only one of the three shops to host events for 40k, including a bimonthly RTT. And we are hoping to have AoS events there in the near future also. The third shop is the one I buy stuff from the most, as their GW selection is great and they actually discount GW stuff instead of charging full MSRP for it. They also don't charge for tables (although they don't have a huge amount of space) and they've got a decent selection of terrain handy. Perhaps the shop's biggest downside is that ventilation in there is poor and it starts to smell kinda funky when there's a big MtG/Pokemon/Lorcana event going on. That and various D&D and other RPG groups sometimes book the table space, leaving no room for the tabletop wargamers.

For those who don't want to read that wall of text, each of my three local shops has its pros and cons, and I'm known to spend my hobby dollars at each of them. It's nice having that many shops within easy driving distance.

My closest game store is an hour and forty-five minute drive (one way) away. It's small but I can usually find something to pick up there (plus I like to support it so it doesn't go away). Next closest stores are two and a half hours away (one way), so I rarely visit them.

For me, most of my game goodies are mail orders.

About 45 mins by public transport to either a GW or and element games, or about an hour to a real independant that i never really use as it's pretty cliquey

About 0.8 miles/ 1.3 km. Easy walk.

Either 35 minutes by car or 50 minutes by public transportation (two different clubs) but the 50 minute one has certain limitations in terms of how often the trains leave so it's most suitable for weekend visits, really.

50 minutes on the tube to get to the local club or element games in London. Other clubs take about 30-45 mins longer so I don't go to them.